Thanks Dad

I didn’t say “Happy Fathers Day” even once today.
What I said was “Thanks Dad for:___”

Thanks for being first in your graduating class of 1942 to enlist.
Thanks for making the Greatest Generation Great.
Thanks for marrying a great lady and being the mainstay of the family.
Thanks for all those things that you built and (let me help)- desks, bookshelves, driveway, brickfireplace, addition on the house, CB radios, 12 volt power supply.
Thanks for teaching me how to use a volt ohm-meter, pull wire, and read a schematic.
Thanks for those samples of steel  you brought home from the mill so I could work on my electroplating science fair project.
Thanks for showing me how to solder.
Thanks for teaching me how to shoot safely, and catch a fish.
Thanks for teaching me how to make Chili “Guy Style” when mom was in the hospital.
Thanks for showing me how to use filler and sequentially finer sandpaper to get my balsa wood fins like glass on my model rockets.
Thanks for showing me how to change the oil in my car.
Thanks for showing me that being a dad means going to work, putting away a little savings and coming home at night and paying attention to the kids.
Thanks for taking me out to  the fancy restaurant for dinner on those rare occassions when my report card had a few “A’s”
Thanks for showing me that patience for one’s children is truly the greatest gift, that even the most uncoordinated kid can get it apart and put it together, and that its more important to have the fun making the stuff  together than it is to just go buy it from the store.
Thanks Dad.